The Los Angeles Dodgers faced off against their former shortstop Manny Machado, for the first time this spring on Thursday night, and they routed his new team, the San Diego Padres, in Peoria.
Los Angeles scored early and often against Padres starter Robbie Erlin and were able to carry that momentum all the way to a 12-0 victory.
A.J. Pollock led off the game with a line drive single to center, further cementing his projected role as the team’s primary leadoff man. He later scored on a two-out single off the bat of Chris Taylor.
The Dodgers then added another run in the top of the second on a solo home run by catcher Austin Barnes, his first of the spring.
It wasn’t until the top of the third inning when the Dodgers effectively put the game out of reach though, bringing home six more runs to extend their lead to eight runs.
Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda got the rally started with a double off the top of the wall in left in his first at-bat of the spring. After Pollock walked and Taylor singled, Joc Pederson cleared the bases with a two-out double.
Barnes continued his hot spring by following with an RBI-double of his own, and then recently-signed Brad Miller capped off the rally with a two-run home run, his first of the spring.
The offense didn’t stop there though. They added three more runs in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Pollock and David Freese and then a long home run by Cody Bellinger to make it 11-0. the long ball was Bellinger’s third of the spring and second in as many days.
Non-roster invitee Josh Thole added an RBI-single in the top of the ninth to cap off the offensive outburst.
Maeda also had a solid outing on the mound for the Dodgers. He extended his pitch count to four innings, allowing just two hits and no runs while striking out six.
Dodgers top pitching prospect Dustin May followed Maeda and looked every bit as good, tossing three shutout innings. He allowed just an infield single while striking out three.
Machado did not fare well in his first game against his former team, going 0-for-3 while grounding into a double play. He did make a couple of nice plays on defense though.
